Embodiments described herein relate generally devices and methods for supporting and manipulating a patient's leg and foot during surgery (e.g., hip joint surgery) or diagnostic procedure. More specifically, embodiments described herein relate to devices and methods for guiding and applying traction to a patient's leg during surgery or diagnostic procedure.
During surgery on a patient's leg (e.g., hip or knee surgery), certain positions and orientations of the leg may be preferred by the surgeon. For example, during one phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to place the patient's leg in tension (i.e., traction), whereas in another phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to rotate the patient's leg about a certain axis while maintaining traction. Moreover, in some cases, the surgeon may want to maintain traction or a particular rotational orientation of the patient's leg while adjusting the other. For example, during a hip replacement surgery, the patient typically lies on an operating table having a leg holding and support device attached thereto. The leg holding and support exerts tension on the patient's leg while holding the patient's leg in one or more desired positions to facilitate the surgery.
Some conventional leg holding and support devices enable traction to be applied to the patient's leg, but provide limited, if any, ability to simultaneously rotate the patient's leg about one or more axes. Other conventional leg holding and support devices enable rotation of the patient's leg about one or more axes, but do not provide the ability to independently control and adjust the rotation of the patient's leg about different axes. Still other conventional leg holding and support devices enable traction and rotation of the patient's leg about an axis simultaneously, but do not allow adjustment of one while maintaining the other.